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Bladder cancer – an overshadowed ‘volcano’

Bladder cancer has often been overshadowed by the limelight of prostate cancer. However, of all the urological cancers, bladder cancer is the only one which has shown a slight decline in age-standardised five-year survival rates over the last couple of...

Robotic assisted perineal prostatectomy: descriptive technique of the inaugural case in the UK

Robotic surgery has taken full flight in the USA since its start in 2000 [1] and is replacing procedures where open surgical techniques were solely employed. While this technology is met with criticism over the costs, the superiority of robotic...

Suprapubic catheterisation – a core surgical trainee’s perspective

Suprapubic catheters (SPCs) are in widespread usage in medical practice and this review will focus on the pre-assessment, indications, methods and complications that are associated with the insertion of an SPC. Although suprapubic catheter insertions may be done electively or...

Introduction to prostate cryotherapy

Introduction Cryotherapy was first described by Dr James Arnott in 1850 where he used crushed ice and salt to get temperatures as low as -24oC, in the treatment of cervical and breast tumours [1]. The literature on prostatic cryotherapy dates...

The management of renal calculi – Pt 2

Renal calculi can be managed according to four treatment options: conservative management, extracorporeal shock wave lithotripsy (ESWL), flexible ureterorenoscopy (FURS) and percutaneous nephrolithotomy (PCNL). Having addressed conservative management and ESWL in the last edition of Urology News, the second article...

Recent developments in bladder cancer

There have been some exciting developments in bladder cancer over the last few years. Immunotherapy has prolonged survival in a proportion of patients with metastatic disease, with sustained efficacy in some. Advances in genetic analysis and molecular subtyping make personalised...

Urinary biomarkers for surveillance of non-muscle invasive bladder cancer

Bladder cancer (BC) is the ninth most common cancer worldwide with a yearly incidence of approximately 430,000 cases. There is a male predominance and it is the seventh most common cancer in men worldwide [1]. Non-muscle invasive bladder cancer (NMIBC)...

Medical statistics for urologists: part 3 – diagnostic testing

Following on from the first two parts of this series (see Part 1 here, and Part 2 here), this final article aims to demonstrate how the theory of statistics applies to medical diagnostics. Probability in diagnostic testing Diagnostic tests refer...

A time management guide for urologists

Good time management is thought to not only reduce stress, but to improve personal efficiency, service delivery, clinical effectiveness and patient care. It was Benjamin Franklin in the 18th Century who originally made the link between success and the proper...